Saved
by Rina76
Summary: Justin is in prison for the murder of Olivia Lake, when Richard comes for him.


Title - Saved Author - Rina76 Rating - R Warning - Slash / kissing, language, talk of rape / suicide Summary - Justin is in prison for the murder of Olivia Lake.  
  
***  
  
"Justin?"  
  
The voice was so quiet and heart-rendingly familiar that Justin thought he was imagining it. He heard it all the time in his dreams, teasing him, loving him, haunting him. It made him cry in his sleep and he'd still be crying for hours when he woke up.  
  
"Justin."  
  
When he heard it the second time, louder and clearer, he whirled around and gasped in shock. Standing in his tiny, cold prison cell was.  
  
"Richard?" Justin whispered, unable to believe his eyes. "Is that really you?"  
  
Richard smiled and shrugged. "It's really me."  
  
Justin flung his arms around the warm solid figure, inhaling the scent of the one person he'd ever loved, feeling wet tears of joy running down his face. Richard hugged him tightly in return.  
  
"Oh God, Richard. I missed you so much," Justin choked out with his face against Richard's neck, holding onto him like he was a lifejacket and he was drowning.  
  
"I know. I missed you too." Richard's voice was soft in his ear and he rubbed Justin's back soothingly.  
  
Justin pulled back and drank in the sight of his best friend as if he was a mirage and would disappear any minute. He hadn't changed a bit. Justin touched Richard's face and his hair with slender seeking fingers, still dazed by the fact that he had finally come to see him after all this time. Richard stilled his roaming hands with his own, smiling at the obvious sheer elation Justin was displaying at his presence.  
  
Then his smile faded. Prison life didn't agree with Justin. Not at all. He was far too thin and the grey pants and shirt that all the inmates wore were hanging off his skinny frame like rags on a scarecrow. His skin was pale and ashen, his once luxurious hair dull and lifeless. His mouth still looked plush and rosy but seemed too big for his gaunt face and there were dark circles under his lower eyelids as if he hadn't slept in months. He looked plain tired and worn out.  
  
"Richard, you have to get me out of here," Justin pleaded, grabbing the other boy's shoulders, his big blue eyes full of desperation. "I hate this place. I hate it!"  
  
"I know," Richard said gently.  
  
"They make me do things," Justin said brokenly, tears slipping down his sunken cheeks again. This time, tears of unspeakable suffering and torment. "They .they hurt me. Every single day. I can't take it any more."  
  
"I know," Richard said again. He could see the purple and yellow bruises on Justin's cheek and neck for himself. "My poor baby."  
  
He enfolded Justin in his strong embrace, planting kisses into his hair, feeling his scrawny body shuddering against him.  
  
"Save me," Justin begged. He was raped the first night he arrived in jail and had been sexually assaulted on a daily basis ever since. It seemed like every man in there wanted to fuck him or shove their dicks into his full, feminine mouth. He didn't even have the protection of being some bull's bitch. He was too pretty to belong to just one person and was passed around and shared like a flask of cheap bourbon.  
  
"Save me, Richard. Please. Please."  
  
Richard stroked his hair. "I am."  
  
Abruptly, Justin tore out of his arms and stared at him strangely. Richard looked exactly as he had the last time he saw him. Right down to his clothes.  
  
"You.you can't be here," Justin said falteringly. "You can't be."  
  
"But here I stand," Richard stated with another casual shrug.  
  
Justin shook his head wildly. "It's impossible. You're.you're dead."  
  
He had seen Richard's battered corpse lying on the rocks at the bottom of the bluff. He'd seen him all twisted and bent and utterly inanimate. Gone from him forever.  
  
"Dead. It's such a harsh, final word isn't it?" Richard grinned wryly. "But, yeah, if you want to call me that, then I guess I am."  
  
"Nuh uh. No, no, no," Justin muttered, backing away, his eyes wide with fear. Here it was. The undeniable proof that he'd lost his mind. He was hallucinating now, seeing apparitions. This place had finally driven him insane.  
  
"You're not crazy, Justin." Richard smiled reassuringly and took a few steps towards the shivering creature trying to flatten himself against the hard stone wall. He reached up to Justin's face and he whimpered, recoiling from his touch. Richard grasped his chin, firmly turned his head and made him look to the left of the cell, past his neatly made bed to a figure lying on the floor.  
  
Justin realised with a jolt it was himself. He was curled on his side, a crimson pool spreading around his body, the blood coming from deep gashes in each wrist. His eyes were closed and he was shocked at how thin and pale he looked. Oh yeah... He remembered now. He had taken the plastic cutlery they had to eat with back to his cell, melted it together and made a knife out it, sharpening the blade against the rough stone floor and promptly slit his veins with it.  
  
"I tried to commit suicide," he said wonderingly. Then, beginning to understand, a mixed look of relief and fear crept onto his face. "Am I.am I dead too?"  
  
"Well, you have a choice," Richard told him as the alarm was raised by a passing cleaner and two medical staff rushed in and tried to stop the bleeding. Justin watched himself dying with morbid fascination. He felt no pain.  
  
"You can stay here and let them save you or you can let me save you," Richard said, holding out his hand. Justin's eyes were wide as he flicked his gaze between his own weakening body and the ghost of Richard. He still couldn't believe this was happening.  
  
"It's up to you, Justin. You can live out the rest of your sentence or you can take my hand."  
  
Richard waited, his lips quirked in a half smile. There was a cigarette nestled behind his ear. Justin looked at Richard, at the serene, patient expression on his face and the love, the pure overflowing love and acceptance that shone from his dark blue eyes and knew instantly what he was going to choose.  
  
He wanted to be with Richard, wherever he was. Even if he had to be dead. Even if they were damned for all eternity. Anything had to be better than enduring life without him and feeling like half of his very being was ripped out.  
  
Without hesitating, Justin took the offered hand and turned his back on his mortal self.  
  
There was a bright, blinding light and a sense of falling suddenly, like the ground had been sucked out from under him. He kept thinking, I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm really dead. All he could feel was Richard's fingers linked with his, strong and warm and comforting through his terrifying sightless panic.  
  
He heard Richard's voice in his mind. You're not dead, you're just ascending. Go with it, man. Don't be afraid.  
  
Then the dizzying whirlwind stopped and Justin's vision was restored. Richard was standing there, still holding his hand. Even though he was not in the land of the living any more, Justin still had a body. It was not the one he left bleeding on the prison floor, but rather an astral self that felt light and weightless, as if he was composed of spun sugar. All around them was blank empty whiteness. Nothing else. Just them and white space, stretching on infinitely in every direction.  
  
Just like on The Matrix, Justin thought, overwhelmed. Richard grinned, that lazy flash of teeth that Justin loved and had sorely missed.  
  
"Yeah. Like The Matrix. I knew you'd get it."  
  
"Where are we?" Justin asked, swinging his head around, trying to see something, anything else but there was only the two of them. It was starting to scare him, all this nothingness.  
  
"Are we in Hell?"  
  
"There is no Hell. Only redemption."  
  
Richard stroked the back of Justin's hand with his thumb. "Do you forgive me, Justin?"  
  
"For what?" Justin questioned, a puzzled frown on his forehead.  
  
"For everything I did to you, everything I made you do. For leaving you alone in jail. I'm so sorry. Do you forgive me for that?" Richard looked serious for the first time. His eyes burned into Justin's like blue flame.  
  
"Of course I do," Justin answered, thinking Richard didn't even have to ask that. He never blamed Richard for anything. He was just incredibly happy to see him again.  
  
"Say it," Richard commanded. "You have to say it."  
  
Justin got the impression that this was very important for both of them. He swallowed and said, "I forgive you, Richard."  
  
Richard relaxed. "Thank you," he whispered gratefully and took Justin's face in his hands and kissed his mouth softly. Justin moaned a little. He was suffused from head to toe with a sweet, deep ache that he deduced was coming from both Richard and himself. It was the affection they had for each other and it hadn't waned one bit. In fact, it seemed stronger than ever. Justin wanted to tell Richard how he felt but the other boy already knew. He could feel it.  
  
"Look," Richard urged, pointing to Justin's belly. Justin looked down on himself and saw the prison garb disappear, replaced with his favourite pair of jeans and a t-shirt Richard have given him once. His skeletal frame filled out to how it used to be, the shine came back into his hair and the blush back in his cheeks. Astounded, he watched as the scars and bruises on his arms melted away, leaving his skin whole and perfect.  
  
"Oh!" he exclaimed, seeing himself in Richard's eyes, as Richard saw him.  
"I'm.I'm beautiful!"  
  
Richard grinned. "Yes, you are, and you always were. You're doing that, you know." He indicated with an elegant sweep of his hand. "Changing the appearance of your spirit self. I can do it too. Everybody here can."  
  
Justin watched in amazement as Richard's clothes shimmered and morphed until he was wearing a long white robe cinched at the waist with a gold sash. He was luminous, his skin seemed to glow from within and his hair was the colour of the sun. He looked like a saint. Justin gaped at him.  
  
"Too much?" Richard raised his brows. "How about this?" He attired himself in leather pants and a red shirt, something more Richard-like. "Try it," he suggested to Justin. "Just think of something."  
  
Justin seized hold of the first thing that came to his mind, dropped his gaze to his body, and found himself decked out in a black long-sleeved top, pants, boots and floor length coat, just like Keanu Reeves. A cool pair of sunglasses appeared on his face and he hurriedly took them off, startled at the abrupt darkening of his sight.  
  
Richard laughed and eyed him appreciatively. "Very good. You look hot, Jus. I might go for that too. You know, keeping the theme we've got going here." His wardrobe warped again and he was similarly clothed all over in black, although he chose to forgo the sunglasses. They didn't need them. The bright surroundings didn't hurt their spectral eyes.  
  
"Now that you're pretty again," Richard began, "we have some more forgiving to do. You have to forgive yourself, Justin, before you go to the next level. Do you think you can do that?"  
  
Justin gulped. This was SO not what he expected. He thought if he died and there was a Hell, that he would be in it, paying for his sins with fire and brimstone and all that horrifying gruesome stuff. Not playing dress ups in a weird Matrix universe.  
  
"Shouldn't I be asking Olivia Lake for forgiveness first?" Justin bit his bottom lip in trepidation and swamping, gut-wrenching guilt. After all, he did kill her in cold blood. He knew it was wrong but still did it anyway. It was the biggest mistake he'd ever made and he'd regretted it every minute of every day of his short, pitiful life.  
  
"Is.is she here?"  
  
"You'll see her soon enough," Richard replied mysteriously. "She's not pissed at you if that's what you're worried about. Everyone gets a second chance here. The hard part is forgiving yourself. Trust me, I should know."  
  
Richard cocked an eyebrow at him. "Ready to go? You need to create an entrance."  
  
From out of nowhere, a big round portal appeared in front of them, a vertical pool of rippling water surrounded by a ring of symbols carved in stone. Once more, Richard laughed delightedly.  
  
"Oh, aren't you just full of surprises," he said to Justin in admiration. "Loving the Stargate. Why didn't I think of that? All I came up with was an open doorway barred with velvet ropes, like one of those exclusive nightclubs where you need to be a celebrity to get past." He grinned. "Lucky the bouncers let me in, huh?"  
  
As he took Justin's hand and prepared to lead him through the Stargate to the world beyond, Justin stopped and asked him in a reverent hushed tone, "Is there a God?"  
  
Richard rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone ask that? Kurt and I were just discussing that this morning. So predictable. Even I asked that when Grampa came to get me after I died and I didn't even believe in God. How lame am I?"  
  
"Kurt?" Justin didn't know who he was talking about.  
  
"Cobain," Richard explained.  
  
"Kurt Cobain is here?" Justin was incredulous.  
  
"Everybody's here," Richard drawled. "Even Elvis. Now, let's go get your wings."  
  
"You.you get wings?" Justin's eyes were round, like saucers.  
  
Richard nodded. "If you earn them."  
  
Justin peered behind his back but couldn't see any tell tale feathers poking out the bottom of Richard's coat. "Have you earned them yet?"  
  
"Yeah, I just left them in my other jacket," Richard joked. "You ask too many questions, Jus. Everything will be revealed in due time."  
  
Justin held back as Richard went to step into the rippling portal, grasping his arm and halting him in mid stride. "Wait, Richard," he breathed, his whole ethereal body trembling. "I'm scared."  
  
A gust of icy wind swirled their long overcoats around their feet. Justin shivered. He knew he created the breeze, as a tangible manifestation of his fear of the unknown. Richard tucked Justin's hair behind his ears, smiling with understanding. He was scared once too.  
  
"There's nothing to be frightened of, baby," Richard said, cradling his face and gazing into his sky blue eyes. "You're gonna be happy here. Nobody will ever hurt you again, I promise. You're safe. You're free. You're loved."  
  
He lowered his mouth to Justin's and kissed him until he was enveloped with warmth and stopped shaking, two lone celestial beings clad in black against an unending stark backdrop of white.  
  
When they broke apart, Justin whispered, "I love you, Richard," even though he knew he didn't have to say it. Every molecule in his soul vibrated with the intense emotion between them.  
  
"And I love you, Justin," Richard murmured, letting him see the endless and timeless depth of feeling in his heart. "I've been waiting so long for you. I'm here and I'll never leave you again. Ever."  
  
Justin looked up at him with complete trust and adoration.  
"Okay, I'm ready now," he pronounced bravely. Richard smiled at him. He was gonna make a gorgeous angel.  
  
They held hands tightly as they both stepped through the gateway and vanished into the afterlife.  
  
Together.  
  
END 


End file.
